Buenos Aires (Argentina) was founded by a Spanish expedition in 1536, then again in 1580. Immigration brought many French, Spanish and Italians to Buenos Aires and Buenos Aires went on to become a major city by having a mass influx of immigrants, African-Argentines, gauchos (cowboys,) and compadritos (a gaucho tough guy/). In 1816 the Waltz was introduced to Argentina, then came the Polka, Mazurka and Schottische. Spanish and Cuban rhythms mixed and the Habanera was born. Music was slow to start being made but soon picked up in mass numbers as the gathering places of the compadritos were the Brothels, which started to have very popular dances similar to the French Apache dancers and the dives rather than Brothels of the French underworld.

   The Habanera (Havanara) music and dance came from Havana, Cuba and made its way thru Spain to Argentina in the early 19th century thru which started the compadritos’ mockery of the African-Argentines dance: basically the blacks danced separated dances and the compadritos danced in the embrace or ballroom position. The Habanera and the Polka played a part in the Argentine Dance known as the 'Milonga' ("or Poor Mans Habanera"). The Milonga originated as a song with lively improvisations and a peppy tempo from the rural area known as Pampa. When this tempo was quieted down and steps were added to it making the Milonga the first known Tango but had not yet been named as such. However the Milonga was very popular by the 1870's.

Wiki states that:
      "Milonga dance incorporates the same basic elements as Tango but permits a greater relaxation of legs and body. Movement is normally faster, and pauses are not made. It is rather a kind of rhythmic walking without complicated figures, with a much more "rustic" style than Tango.

  There are different styles of Milonga: "Milonga Lisa" (Simple Milonga), in which the dancer steps on every beat of the music; and "Milonga con Traspié", in which the dancer uses Traspiés or contrapasos (changes of weight from one foot to the other and back again in double time or three steps in two beats) to interpret the music. Thus, dynamics may be danced without having to run fast or without the use of much space.

  In a book published in 1883 Ventura Lynch, a noted contemporary student of the dances and folklore of Buenos Aires Province, noted the influence the Afro-Argentine dancers had on the compadritos, who apparently frequented the Afro-Argentine dance venues, "the Milonga is danced only by the compadritos of the city, who have created it as a mockery of the dances the blacks hold in their own places".

  Ventura also noted the popularity of the Milonga. "The Milonga is so universal in the environs of the city that it is an obligatory piece at all the lower-class dances (bailecitos de medio pelo), and it is now heard on guitars, on paper-combs, and from the itinerant musicians with their flutes, harps and violins. It has also been taken up by the organ-grinders, who have arranged it so as to sound like the habanera dance. It is danced too in the low life clubs around...[main] markets, and also at the dances and wakes of cart-drivers, the soldiery and compadres and compadritos.

  Distinctive elements added from candombe were "quebradas", improvised, jerky, semi-athletic contortions, the more dramatic the better, and cortes, a suggestive pause, or sudden break in the figures of the dance. Unlike in the then "Tango" of that group, however, where these movements were danced apart, they were now danced together. Jose Gobello suggested that the mazurka was also altered in the districts close to the docks. This Africanized milonga-tango, as well as the habanera and mazurka, was frowned upon, and found wholly unacceptable by some sections of Argentine high society"... (end Wiki).

Birth Place

Creation Date

Creator

Dance Type

Posters, Lobby Cards etc.

Sheet Music Covers

Music Titles

Night Clubs

Theaters

Locations

Television

Publications

Ballets / Stage

Instructional Books, VHS & DVD

Various Tango Films

Other Related Dances of the time...

Associated Dancers, Choreographers etc.

Political

Books, Magazine Articles on the dance...

Musicians, Composers etc.

Artists

Poets / Writers

Singers

Misc. Research Words that may be related ... to help your searches